1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device and a method for dispensing string. In particular, the present invention relates to a device and a method for dispensing string between stakes to support vegetable plants dispersed between the stakes.
2. Disclosure of Related Art
Vegetable plants, such as tomato plants, require external support to maintain the continuous upward growth of the plants. When the plants produce vegetables, the increased weight of the vegetables may urge the plants closer to the ground. Further, when plants bend over so the vegetables contact the ground, the vegetables and even the plants become more susceptible to decay due to ground moisture and damage from insects. It is well known to support vegetable plants using stakes dispersed along a row of the plants. When utilizing stakes, string may be tied between the stakes on each side of the vegetable plants to support the plants. Further, a device for dispensing string between the stakes is known.
The known device for dispensing string utilizes a solid pole, a detached string container, and a ball of string disposed within the string container. The pole includes a tip member having a hole extending therethrough, and a plurality of brackets disposed longitudinally along the pole. Each of the brackets has an eyelet for string to be fed therethrough. String from the ball of string is fed from the string container through the brackets on the pole and further through the hole in the tip member. The device is utilized by tying the string which exits the hole in the tip member to a first stake. The device is further utilized by dispensing string between adjacent stakes and by encircling successive stakes with string by moving the tip member in a circular pattern around each successive stake. However, the known string feeding device suffers from several drawbacks. First, the string being fed from the known device may become entangled within the string container since the ball of string tumbles freely within the container. Second, because the known device feeds string through the plurality of brackets on the outside of the pole, the string may become entangled with plants that come into contact with the string extending along the pole. Third, the string may become entangled around the tip member when the tip member is moved in a circular pattern around the stakes. Once the string becomes entangled, a workman must untangle the string before dispensing any further string.
There is thus a need for a string feeding device that minimizes and/or eliminates string entanglement within a string container, along the exterior of the device, and at the dispensing end of the device.